


Listen

by Arisprite



Series: By Grace, We Are Saved [29]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Eavesdropping, Gen, M/M, poor Charlie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-16
Updated: 2013-05-16
Packaged: 2017-12-12 02:11:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/805936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arisprite/pseuds/Arisprite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They ended up just sitting on the floor in the hallway, listening. The words weren’t clear, save for the occasional yell. Sam could tell it was Cas doing most of the screaming, the words rising and falling, anger and other emotions cresting and breaking like waves. He’d never heard Castiel like this, and it honestly scared him a little. </p>
<p>Charlie was curled against him on the floor, her breathing quick and nervous. She was trembling some, lost in the wake of some of some snippets of arguing that had made it clearly to the bunker. She didn’t understand. </p>
<p>Sam POV to "Need" by archi</p>
            </blockquote>





	Listen

Sam didn’t know that anything strange was going on until Charlie stumbled into the library, looking confused and nervous. He’d been wandering through the library again - he hadn’t had a chance to since the trials really took effect and made reading an impossibility, and it was like the whole place was new again. 

Looking up from the ancient text on werewolves (with information in the footnotes he’d never heard of before) he focused on Charlie with surprise. 

“Charlie? I didn’t know you were coming?” He stood. He glanced back the way she’d come, and then back at him quickly. 

“I brought Castiel.” She said, biting her lip. “I probably shouldn’t have, but Dean made me promise to try and get him here, and then this morning he wanted to come...”

Sam frowned. “Where’s Dean?” A sinking feeling was invading his gut, and now Dean’s strange, deliberate mood this morning made sense. 

“Outside with Cas.” Charlie said, “I think Dean wanted to talk it out...” Voice trailed off, rising into almost a question, and Sam nodded as his suspicions got confirmed. Dean probably was planning on talking, but that wasn’t all. He looked towards the ceiling, and then back at Charlie. 

“So...yeah...” 

Sam circled the table, patted her shoulder, and went into the entryway. The bunker was pretty sound proof, and so Sam couldn’t hear anything outside if the door was closed. He didn’t want to listen, exactly. Whatever they were saying to each other was their business, but he wanted to be close...just in case they tried to killed each other.

“Sam?” He looked back, to see Charlie following him, her hands twisted together. “They are _talking_ , right?”

Sam winced.

“Probably not.”

Her face fell into a displeased frown, her hands falling to her side. “He just got out of the hospital.”

Sam shrugged, no easy answer for her came to mind, though he was relatively sure Dean was well aware, and wouldn’t truly hurt Cas. He turned, and entered the narrow hallway on the inside of the front door. Carefully, he slid the door open, not wanting the noise to interrupt anything. As he cracked it, raised voices from the outside became clear, suddenly filling the room. 

Charlie looked alarmed, and tried to step past him. Sam took her arm, stopping her.   
“We have to let them do this, Charlie.”

She gave him a confused look, denial rising to her lips, and Sam shook his head before she could speak. 

“I know.” He murmured.

They ended up just sitting on the floor in the hallway, listening. The words weren’t clear, save for the occasional yell. Sam could tell it was Cas doing most of the screaming, the words rising and falling, anger and other emotions cresting and breaking like waves. He’d never heard Castiel like this, and it honestly scared him a little. 

Charlie was curled against him on the floor, her breathing quick and nervous. She was trembling some, lost in the wake of some of some snippets of arguing that had made it clearly to the bunker. She didn’t understand. 

“They’re going to kill each other.” She murmured. Sam rubbed his fingers over his shoulder, trying to tune out the argument outside for a moment. 

“They’ll be okay.” He said, trying to use his low voice to block out theirs. Then he admitted something he’d been suspecting. “Dean’s doing it on purpose. He’s done it to me. Known there was shit I needed to get out, to yell about, before I could move on. He knows that yelling at him will help Cas, so he’s making him angry.”

Charlie was silent, looking past him towards the door, and the crack of late afternoon light that shone in, crossing their feet. 

“They sound really angry.”

Sam sighed, remembering fight after fight, and the things they’d said to each other. How much it hurt to know the truth, but that usually it was better for having been aired. 

“Sometimes, especially for Winchesters, that’s the only way to get at the truth. Once its out, you can deal with it, but if it stays inside, festering...like poison.”

They stayed there for awhile, long enough to hear the talk, crackling with anger change to wordless yells and the sound of blows. Charlie flinched in earnest, before withdrawing to the interior of the bunker, where she wouldn’t be able to hear. Sam waited another minute or two. The fight died down, and Sam risked moving, pushing the door open a little more, and stepping out. 

The road in front of the bunker was deserted, quiet, and for a moment, Sam panicked. Then he saw them. 

Cas and Dean were on the ground, leaning against the bank of dirt and trees that covered the underground portion of their bunker. Dean was on his back, underneath Castiel, with Castiel curled over him, legs straddling his stomach, and Cas’ face buried in Dean’s shoulder. His shoulders shook, his back jumping and hitching under Dean’s furious grip on him. Sam watched as Dean’s hand moved from Cas’ back to his hair, carding through it gently. If his own past experiences were any indication, Dean was probably murmuring a litany of reassurances, the _I’ve got yous_ , and _it’ll be okays_. Castiel was crying, sobbing, like he’d lost everything. Hell, he had. The home he’d had, his entire family, and the only life he’d ever known. He’d lost the center puzzle piece for his soul, and he was _broken_ for it. But, he hadn’t lost Dean. That’s what Dean was trying to show him today. 

Castiel’s hand clutched at Dean’s shoulder, and Sam thought that perhaps, he was starting to see that. 

Carefully, he re-entered the bunker, and went to his room. _Give them space, give them time._ He settled onto his bed with another book, and didn’t hear when Cas and Dean came back in.


End file.
